Easy DIY for office and home.
The first major project we chose to do in our 1950’s artdeco house after we moved in was our kids room. It needed some serious love. I will do a whole different post dedicated to that project alone, but wanted to give a little background for those who are not familiar with what we are up to in our house.
While remodeling the girls room we tried to utilize all of the space the best that we could. We built a bunkbed in the center of the room as a divider giving each of our girls their own space.
We have done SOOOO much work over this last year in this room. We thought that it would be a quick remodel, but it has slowly turned into a very big project, that has lasted all year long. We are now in the home stretch, and I have a ton of content I have been recording of the project that I can’t wait to share. Stay tuned for the big reveal of the room, hopefully by the end of January…….fingers crossed.
On to the whiteboard…
Here is a quick video of it for the video-visual learners-
In the room, we tried to use each surface the best we could to give each girl their own space including a desk, and vanity area. Although I liked the idea originally of having the built in bed be plain with no additional things on it (because I am a sucker for clean lines) we just couldn’t NOT use all of that space just sitting there. Soooo, the whiteboard and bulletin boards were installed, giving them a place to hang photos, and write lists etc.
This is a quick and fun craft that is sure to make any space feel more versatile, and sleek too. Who doesn’t want a little fancy added to their space?
I had all of the supplies on hand from other projects in the past which was nice for my wallet, but overall it really can be cost effective if you do it right. Disclaimer… I am not great at knowing the exact names of some of these drill bits etc. I just dug around my basement until I found something that was about the right size I needed. So…. ya. Please bear with me;)
Supplies:
- Acrylic Clear Sheet – 1/8″ thickness
- Acrylic Stand out hangers. I used THESE but I also found some that are already gold HERE. They come with the hanging hardware needed for mounting.
- Gold metallic Spray paint- Optional if using stainless steel ones.
- Chalk pen Window markers. I like THESE.
- Utility knife
- straight edge of some sort for a straight line when scoring the acrylic
Tools:
- Drill- I love my dewalt drill…
- Bit with a smaller head- A pocket hole drill bit will work. Something that can get the hole started.
- Larger Drill bit a little bigger diameter around as the post on the acrylic standout you are using. The ones I linked above are 2/5 ” on the diameter of the threaded end.
- Dremmel Tool for cleanup with a small sanding cylinder on it.
- Small level for even hanging
- A pen/ pencil for marking while hanging
Ok lets get into it!
Step 1: Sizing, scoring, snapping
(Decide what size you would like your whiteboard to be. I measured each space I had available on the bunkbed, and made them to fit those spaces. I made two, and they were both different sizes. )
Line up your straight edge where you would like to cut it according to the sizes you have chosen. Holding the straight edge with one hand, and holding the utility knife in the other. Press down hard with the utility knife against the straight edge to score the acrylic sheet. Leave the plastic on if you can. This will help protect the rest of it. Then hold the piece and snap it with equal force across the scored line to break the plexi-glass (acrylic sheet) on the line you measured and scored. Boom! You have a sized, scored and snapped piece.
Step 2: Drilling Holes
This is where the drill comes in. Mark a small dot in each corner of the piece of plexi-glass and attach the drill bit that has a bit of an extra tip on it. This will help the bit from wandering a lot when you start to drill down on the plexi-glass. Another trick is to put painters tape where you are drilling and drill through that. Wandering is a very common issue when drilling either glass or plexiglass. Make sure to hold the drill vertically and not an any kind of angle, and start drilling on your marked spot.
You should get a small hole like this.
Then Switch to the bigger drill bit that is just slightly bigger than the diameter of the threaded post on the acrylic standout you are using. Pressing down with some pressure, but not too much, drill through the plexi-glass all the way. The drill bit may get hot and melt the plastic if you are not careful. You can go slow and take it in steps if needed.
Step 3: Sand
Once you have all 4 holes drilled you may need to clean them up a little with some sand paper, or the dremmel tool. I used a sanding cylinder on the dremmel tool and it made the job go fast.
Step 4: Prepare to hang
In this step you need to use the level, and the pen/ pencil to mark out the areas you will be drilling the acrylic standouts into. I hold the plexiglass with the holes in it up to the wall I will be hanging it on. I make sure it is level, and draw a little mark inside each of the 4 holes I just drilled.
Step 5: Drilling on the back piece of the acrylic standout.
In this step you need to take apart the standout. It comes unscrewed at the middle. It has a larger back piece that is a hollow tube, and a front piece that has a threaded rod attached to a circle front. There are two small rubber washers in between both of these parts. Find the screw that came with the acrylic standout piece, and drop the screw into the back piece hole where they join together, and pull the pointy end of the screw through the bottom. Using the drill, place the bit on the screw head and line it up with the marks you just made. Drive the screw all the way into the wall, until it pulls the back piece tight and flush against the wall.
Do this 3 more times until you have all 4 back mounting plates attached to the wall securely.
Step 6: Attaching the front part of the acrylic standout
In this step you need to make sure you have both rubber washers on each front piece with the threads. You will separate the washers, and put on each side of the plexi-glass and then place the threaded screw front through the holes you drilled in the plexi-glass.
Step 7: Final assembly
Screw in all front pieces, evenly rotating around as you go. Tighten them equal amounts until they are all the way screwed in on each one. Voila you have a fancy new whiteboard. I like these fun chalk markers on them since I used a black wall behind them, but any dry erase markers will work great too. Another option for those who have a cricut or vinyl cutting machine is to make it into a calendar or grocery shopping list etc. by attaching the vinyl onto the backside of it before hanging, making the front of the plexi-glass smooth and easy to clean.
Questions or did you make this yourself? Comment and share below! Thanks for being here.
Stay creative-
-Amanda